Sick dogs in Wellfleet puzzle animal experts

The hound couldn’t walk down stairs. The yellow Lab seemed severely intoxicated and even allowed a much-detested cat to rub against his leg. The Pomeranian didn’t respond to a snap of the fingers, and her back legs were limp.

WELLFLEET – The hound couldn’t walk down stairs. The yellow Lab seemed severely intoxicated and even allowed a much-detested cat to rub against his leg. The Pomeranian didn’t respond to a snap of the fingers, and her back legs were limp.

All three dogs recovered within a day or two, their owners said Wednesday. Since the summer, five Wellfleet dogs have been reported sick from what may be some type of poison or toxic materials, either man-made or natural.

One of the five had to be euthanized because of the illness, possibly because of antifreeze poisoning, animal control officer Lorial Russell said Tuesday. Another dog was sick twice, in October and three weeks ago, and is currently on antibiotics, owner Ennie McDonald said.

Authorities don’t think the illnesses are related or deliberate. The sick dogs are in all parts of town, the police have no reports – such as complaints about dogs or neighborhood disputes – that might serve as a motive, and medical tests done on some of the animals show no telling abnormalities.

Animal control officials in Barnstable, Bourne, Eastham and Yarmouth said Wednesday they have not seen similar illnesses in dogs in recent months. A report of a poisoned dog is rare, they said, perhaps once every two or three years.

Town and county officials discussed the dog illnesses in Wellfleet with Russell on Jan. 16 at a regular countywide meeting on rabies.

“The No. 1 factor is, if these dogs have been able to run at large,” Barnstable senior animal control officer Charles Lewis said. “It could have been stagnant water. If it was in a small area, you could pinpoint a source. I can’t imagine that someone is out there doing this. It would appear to me there is some kind of a natural thing these guys are getting into.”

Two of the four dog owners in Wellfleet who spoke to the Times said that their dogs, both small, were not allowed to roam outside unleashed.

A yellow Lab named Barney, owned by Cindy Long, had been outside for a while in cold weather when he was taken to Ark Angel Animal Hospital in South Wellfleet, veterinarian Daniella Schutzengel said Wednesday.

Barney was dehydrated and abnormally cold, appeared spacey and was stumbling, Schutzengel said. He wasn’t vomiting or having diarrhea and showed no signs of a seizure. He had no blood work abnormalities, showed no signs of having ingested antifreeze and recovered after being on fluids overnight, Long said.

Some type of toxin or poison had probably contributed to the illness, Schutzengel said.

“Luckily, within 48 hours, he was back to normal,” he said.

Some of the owners suggested Wednesday that the dogs could have gotten into toxic substances found in mushrooms or compost, or been poisoned accidentally by substances used by government officials to control wildlife.

Ashley Rowell’s Pomeranian, Stella, became sick in October.

“It was really scary,” she said.

When Rowell and her boyfriend met another Wellfleet couple at the veterinarian’s office, and that couple’s dog had the same symptoms as Stella, they became suspicious.

“Same symptoms and same size,” Rowell said. “That was what made us raise our eyebrows. It wasn’t just Stella. Whatever happened to her, their dog had it too.”